Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar are out of the race for the Democratic nomination, and they have publicly endorsed former VP Joe Biden, even campaigning with him in Dallas. The conventional wisdom now is that if Pete and Amy are endorsing Biden, Pete and Amy supporters will vote for Biden.
But why? The conventional wisdom is no match for the messages, styles and policies of the candidates themselves. When those metrics are the barometer, Pete and Amy voters don’t move to Biden. They move to Elizabeth Warren.
At this stage, no one is serious about Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s status as a contender. She has underperformed, well, everywhere. But considering I’ve bet money on a contested convention in Milwaukee, I don’t begrudge her staying in the race. She thinks the same about the convention, and her campaign has put out a memo outlining this position, referring to it as the, “final play.”
This means, delegates or not, that Warren is an option for voters. Amy and Pete voters might take notice.
Buttigieg supports Medicare for All….who want it. The difference between his plan and Sen. Bernie Sanders’ plan is nil. Buttigieg admitted this himself, saying if insurers could not figure out how to operate in his new scheme, they will fail. He followed up by saying, “And honestly, I don’t care.”
Buttigieg, just like Bernie, spent much of his campaign attacking and insulting police officers, both in South Bendand across the nation. He has spoken often about “systemic racism” and abusive cops. Sanders says the same.
But Buttigieg supporters think Bernie is “too radical.” Clearly, it’s not about substance with these voters, but about style. They want the policies -the substance – but they also want a style that isn’t screaming and yelling and aggressively pointing at them every second. If the mix of substance and style is what Buttigieg supporters are looking for – far-left policies, delivered without screaming – then that’s not Joe Biden. That’s Elizabeth Warren.
Klobuchar got the endorsement from the New York Times. They called her a woman of, “…charisma, grit and stick-to-itiveness .” She holds many far-left ideals, including being a sponsor of the Green New Deal and supporting Cap and Trade. But she shares those views without the over-the-top passion plays of fellow Leftists. She is seen as the pragmatist of the group; someone who is grounded, and who will explain her position in plain English.
Her policies line up with Biden on healthcare, where both support a “public option” and a return to Obamacare. And she aligns with Biden and Bernie on the Green New Deal. (Bernie supports the Green New Deal, but not Cap and Trade.) But who would call Bernie a pragmatist? Who would call Biden grounded? Support for Klobuchar meant, again, that supporters were searching for a mix of style and substance. That they agree with Bernie on policy does not mean that they find him agreeable.
Enter Elizabeth Warren. She also received the endorsement of the New York Times. (Sure, there was a serious element of “woke” in the endorsement, but what isn’t woke these days from the New York Times?) Warren supports the Green New Deal and Cap and Trade. Warren does favor Medicare for All, but she also focuses on being a woman candidate. Doesn’t “diversity” count for anything anymore in the Democratic party?
After her poor showing in the New Hampshire primary, Warren spoke highly of Sen. Klobuchar, saying, ” I also want to congratulate my friend and colleague Amy Klobuchar for showing just how wrong the pundits can be when they count a woman out.”
Klobuchar supporters have already showed they are comfortable with a woman on top of the ticket. So why, after the similarities and the kindnesses, would one assume that Klobuchar supporters would move to Joe Biden?
Klobuchar supporters have shown they want someone who can clearly communicate with them, who can explain ideas and policies instead of yelling at them or America. Biden is a man, who yells, who does get the facts wrong, who can’t remember what’s in the Declaration of Independence, who brings gaffe after gaffe after embarrassing, incoherent, what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-this-guy-oh-my-gosh-is-he-smelling-me gaffe!
Biden may be part of the two man race, but Warren is the woman who most encapsulates the wants and desires of Pete and Amy voters: calm, focused, has a plan, politically far left, “diverse” and not afraid to take on President Donald Trump.
Conventional wisdom says Biden picks up the Pete and Amy support, but this wisdom is based on everyone falling in line with the Democratic establishment’s desire to stop Sen. Sanders cold. Some might want just that. But many Pete and Amy supporters like Bernie’s policies, and they like his fighting spirit; what they don’t like is his style. The candidate that most resembles Bernie’s policies but Pete and Amy’s style is not Joe Biden, it’s Elizabeth Warren.
